Imagine this: you've just done a successful outreach program with the local TVIs (Teachers of the Visually Impaired), and now you have a stack of applications for new Juvenile patrons. Wonderful... right up until you realize that you need to enter all of the exclusions for each of them. If you're picturing spending all afternoon entering them one at a time, and worried that you'll miss one of the little 'exclusion' checkboxes along the way, I have good news!

The Quick Preference function allows you to enter all of your common exclusions at once, either by typing them in or by copying and pasting the whole list for juveniles, incarcerated patrons, and anyone wanting just the "clean reads." 

And it's not just for exclusions, either--if you learn or create a cheat sheet for your library's top 5 to 10 subject codes, you can save yourself a whole lot of time when entering preferences for your new patrons.

One-time Prep:

Create a list of popular subjects and exclusions, either by looking up the subjects on the patron Preferences tab and jotting down the code, or from the Headings Maintenance screen. See the download below for specific instructions, or your KLAS Admin would likely be glad to create a list of common subject and exclusion codes for your library.

Using Quick Preferences:

From the patron's Preferences tab (Alt-4) in the Patron module, open the Quick Preferences screen from the Functions - Preferences menu or by pressing Ctrl-Alt-n on your keyboard. Enter each code on its own line, and put an exclamation point ahead of any exclusions to say "No!" to that subject. For example, an exclusion against Westerns would be entered as !WES for "No Westerns."

For more detailed instructions, download the full Quick-Tip:

Tips & Tricks

One option for an easy cheat-sheet is to use a blank application, and write the code next to each preference's checkbox. This ensures that you have the codes handy for everything on the application, and makes it easy to match up the codes to the application you are entering.

For easy copying/pasting of all the standard exclusions, you can also create a notepad .txt file with each exclusion on it's own line, prefixed by an exclamation point (for No!). For example, if my library's codes for Contains Violence, Contains Strong Language, and Contains Descriptions of Sex are VI, ST, and SE, my text file would be:

!VI

!ST

!SE

and so on through all the other exclusions.

I would then Save that file on my desktop or in my documents folder, and every time I entered applications from then on, I would open the file, select the whole list, and press Ctrl-c to Copy it. Any time a patron needed the whole list, or at least most of it, I would then use Ctrl-v on the Quick Preferences screen to Paste the list.

Do you use Quick Preferences? Do you have a lengthy subject code cheat-sheet on your desk, or do you have the codes for just the things on your standard application memorized? Share your tips in the comments--or let us know if you have questions!